Wildcat Den State Park, Iowa - June 28th to 30th, 2026
Wildcat Den State Park was our third destination on our way to Chicago to start Route 66. The park is not far from the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, which claims to be the largest truck stop in the world. So we included visiting that during our stay.
Sunday was a travel day from Ponca State Park in Nebraska to Wildcat Den State Park near Davenport in Iowa. It was about a five and a half hour drive. The drive was pretty uneventful. We stayed on US Route 20 most of the way. However, it quickly turned from a two-lane highway to a four-lane divided highway, as Iowa was more densely populated than northern Nebraska.
Our stops were all at truck stops. We stopped mainly for gas, bathrooms, and some drinks. During the drive, we listened to the audio book of Project Hail Mary. We’ve already seen the movie, but the book has a lot more details. We’re really enjoying listening to it so far. The audio book is about 15 hours long, so it will be a while before we finish it.
We arrived at Wildcat Den State Park around 4:30 pm. Ann went for a half hour walk before dinner, then another half hour walk around the park after dinner, so she could get her exercise in after a day of sitting in Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO) on the road.
We had leftovers for dinner, so we didn’t have to cook. It’s nice to arrange that on travel days, because we never feel like cooking once we arrive.
The weather had turned on us. We had been experiencing cool days in the 60’s and 70’s up to this point. Now it was breaking into the 90’s and humid, which we are not used to. Of course, the campgrounds up to this point had electrical hookups, but we didn’t use them because we didn’t need air conditioning. Now that we could use some AC, we have no hookups.
Before going to bed, Ann washed up using the collapsible water bin (paid link) in the kitchen. Then she hosed down her hair with the kitchen faucet. The faucet pulls out so she could hang her head over the water bin. It felt so refreshing to get her head wet.
We had the ceiling fan turned as high as it would go, along with the bedroom windows open. The small fans (paid link) in the bedroom were cranked up and blowing directly on us as we laid in bed. We had put the exterior windshield cover (paid link) on for the first time when we arrived because Red Tail was in the sun at first. By the time we went to bed, it was 80 degrees outside and 88 degrees inside. Ann was able to sleep OK in the heat with her wet hair, but Keith struggled a little bit. By morning, the temps had dropped below 80, but the humidity was still 80 to 90%.
Monday, we stayed inside the state park and went on a hike. We followed the AllTrails route called Wildcat Den Trail. The route makes a big loop around most of the park, passing right through the campground.
We took the loop in the counter clockwise direction. From the campground, the trail drops down into a ravine, with a small stream running through the bottom of it. The ravine walls were lined with sandstone rock bluffs. The scenery reminded us of Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio (Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio -August 9th to 12th, 2021). It was about ten degrees cooler down in the ravine.
A long spur off the loop brought us over to the Pine Creek Grist Mill. The mill was built in 1848 and is the oldest grist mill between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Near the mill is the Pine Mill Bridge which was erected across Pine Creek in 1876. Inside the mill is a museum about the different milling processes used between 1848 and 1929. However, the museum is only open two days a week, and Monday was not one of them, so we couldn’t go inside.
Nearby the mill and bridge is the Melpine Country School and a log cabin. The school was in use from 1930 to 1945. It also contains a museum that is open on Sunday afternoons. We couldn’t find any information about the log cabin.
We returned on the spur trail and continued the loop. It passes by a small cave. It was a short scramble up to the cave entrance, but we didn’t have headlamps with us, so we didn’t feel like taking the effort to scramble up in the heat.
The second half of the trail was just a pleasant walk through the woods. Perhaps we should have taken the route in the opposite direction, saving the major points of interest closer to the end, along with the coolness of the ravine as the day heated up.
The rest of the day, we just relaxed at our campsite. The campground only has 20 camp sites. The ones on the outside of the loop were shaded by trees, at least part of the day, unlike the ones on the inside of the loop, which were in full sun most of the day. We were thankful that our site was on the outside. Even though Red Tail was in full sun for part of the day, we were able to move our camp chairs under some trees and into the shade.
There were two other campers in the campground the first evening, but they both left in the morning. Another camper arrived later on the second evening and they were gone by morning. We’re guessing not too many people wanted to camp in the heat.
There weren’t many campers, but there seemed to be quite a few people enjoying the park. We watched vehicles drive in, park, and go on hikes. We passed about a dozen others hiking the trail during our hike. And there were families enjoying the water in Pine Creek.
Tuesday, we drove up to the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, the largest truck stop in the world. Yes, we drove 25 minutes, out of our way, just to visit a truck stop. It was time to do laundry and the truck stop has a public laundry facility, but we also just wanted to experience the truck stop.
First we filled up with gas, then went inside the main building to explore. Inside was the usual convenience store of a normal truck stop, but then there was so much more. It makes a Buc-ee’s look pitiful. There was a food court with Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, and Starbucks. Plus there was a sit-down restaurant called Iowa 80 Kitchen, with a full menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in addition to a large, all-you-can-eat buffet.
There is also just about everything a trucker could want or need. There was a movie theater where you could request a movie to watch, a trucker’s lounge, showers, a barber shop, a chiropractor, a workout room, a dentist office, and a custom chrome shop. And yes, a laundromat.
In another large building, probably larger than the main building, is a trucking museum. Then there is also a truck wash and a CAT scale.
We opted to have lunch first before doing our laundry. We ordered from the menu at the Iowa 80 Kitchen. Keith had the corned beef hash while Ann ate the western omelette. It was a tasty meal.
It didn’t take us long to do our laundry, probably not more than an hour. The machines took credit cards. It initially charged $10, then was supposed to credit us back with whatever we didn’t use. For some reason, we used two different credit cards, one for washing and a different one for drying, so we had two $10 charges and didn’t see any credits come through by the next day (the credits did eventually get posted to our credit cards).
After laundry, we walked over to the Trucking Museum. The place was huge, about the size of an airport hanger. We found it very interesting. There were trucks of all kinds, most were old, but some were somewhat newer. There were all kinds of old signs adorning the walls and a couple of old gas station pumps and store fronts.
After spending about three hours at the truck stop, we drove down to the town of Muscatine for dinner. We parked in Riverside Park, along the Mississippi River. There was a nice breeze coming off the river which made the high temperatures more bearable. We walked along the river front, then checked out the historic buildings along 2nd Street, including the National Pearl Button Museum. The museum was not open, but we’re not much of museum people anyway. We had already gotten our quota of museums for the day at the truck stop.
There was a lot of commotion along the street. Apparently, the old buildings along one block were shifting and becoming unstable. So they were moving everyone out of the whole block of buildings. We’re hoping everyone finds a good home to move to, residents and businesses alike. They may need to tear down the whole block of buildings. Hopefully they can save some of the old façades.
For dinner, we walked down to the Contrary Brewing Company. It was a nice little place. You ordered food and drinks from the bar. Keith had fish and chips, while Ann ordered the pesto chicken pizza. Keith drank their Shandy, which is a British form of a German Radler. It is beer mixed with lemonade. Keith needed the hydration, as we were both pretty parched. The food and drinks hit the spot.
As we were enjoying our meal, we discussed changing campgrounds. We had two more nights reserved in Wildcat Den State Park, but the heat was getting to us. In order to use our AC in Red Tail, we needed to be hooked up to electricity. A campground search came up with Camelot Campground Quad Cities, up in Rock Island, Illinois, just 35 minutes away. That sounded better. We tried booking it online, but it was too late in the day to reserve that night online. Ann tried calling, but she got their answering machine. So we decided to risk it and just drive there to find out if they had any open spots. Our backup was just to return to Wildcat Den State Park.
Luck was with us and they had plenty of spots open. Camelot Campground was previously a KOA. So it had the typical KOA amenities, like a pool, playgrounds, miniature golf, and camping cabins. The campground sits on two small lakes with pedal boats and fishing piers. We’re not sure if you are allowed to launch your own boats onto the lake or not.
Ann walked around most of the campground to finish closing her exercise rings, then we both retreated to the air conditioning inside Red Tail. Ahhh, that felt good.
We liked Wildcat Den State Park, but not the heat and humidity. Camping in the park would be more enjoyable during a different time of year. Even though we didn’t stay as long as we planned, we’re still glad we went there.
Check out our related video: Wildcat Den State Park, Iowa
(Ann)